U.N. Warns of Ability to Feed Growing Population; Farm Bill Spending

**The U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization is warning that mankind's future ability to feed itself is in jeopardy due to intensifying pressures on natural resources, mounting inequality, and the fallout from a changing climate.

A new FAO report notes that although significant progress in reducing global hunger has been achieved over the past 30 years, "expanding food production and economic growth have often come at a heavy cost to the natural environment.

By 2050 the world population likely will have grown to nearly 10 billion people, FAO said, up almost 3 billion from the present population.

** Farmers are expected to produce nearly as many acres of soybeans as corn this year as growers respond to a relatively stronger increase in soybean prices. That’s according to the Agriculture Department.

Speaking last week at USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, the department’s chief economist, Robert Johansson, said farmers will likely plant 88 million acres of soybeans this spring, up from 83.4 million last year.

Corn acreage is expected to fall from 94 million last year to 90 million acres this year.

** The ranking member of the House Ag Committee says Farm Bill funding discussions should center on spending more, not less.

Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson tells Brownfield he’s advocating for a heftier baseline because of the many financial challenges farmers are facing.

A group of 500 organizations concerned about Congress allocating fewer dollars in the next Farm Bill wrote lawmakers this week requesting that no funding cuts occur.